A Busy Weekend (2)

Swallowing my embarrassment, I followed the zookeeper's lead up to Penglu.

"Bwaak?"

"Hey there."

Penglu tilted its head at me.

Holding its gaze, I pulled a stone from my pocket.

A smooth, polished little rock the size of a pebble, with a faint, peculiar luster running through it.

Of all the mana stones that had dropped after I cleared a mountain of monsters in the last gate, this one had been the prettiest.

I waved the stone back and forth in my hand, and Penglu's head whipped left and right after it.

When I held it out, the penguin thrust its flippers forward and tried to snatch it.

Whoosh—

Not a chance.

I yanked my hand away right in front of its beak, and it stared up at me in pure betrayal.

…For an animal, those emotions are way too readable.

I spoke to the creature with the thoroughly miserable eyes.

"Hey, Tengken. Bring me the coldest thing in your house and I'll trade you."

Talking to an animal was already a blow to my self-respect. The zookeeper watching with rapt interest, and the spectators beyond treating me like a zoo monkey, made it infinitely worse.

"This is rare stuff. You could clown around your whole life and still never get a rock like this."

Saying that while looking into a face that honestly just looked dumb, a fresh wave of doubt hit me.

…Is this thing actually smart? It looks like a complete airhead no matter how I look at it.

After a brief staring contest, Penglu turned around, waddled off, and dove straight into the water.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Splash—!

…It's going to bring the scale, right?

It didn't just clock out for the day, right?

"……."

The beast that had been the star of the show was gone, leaving me alone to monopolize every spectator's stare. I could feel my human dignity eroding in real time.

Fortunately, Penglu came back soon enough.

A small scale clamped in its beak.

It scrambled up out of the water, flailed its way upright, and waddled back toward me.

Ptooey—

Then it spat the scale right at my feet.

…I shoved the vaguely unpleasant feeling aside and picked it up, and the item effect window floated into view.

One reason this treasure had never ended up in anyone else's hands was that Penglu had stashed it deep in a secret hoard—but the bigger factor was that the staff who managed the nest weren't Awakeners. To a non-Awakener without a status window, this item was just a somewhat pretty scale. For people who handled every kind of seafood day in and day out, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it probably hadn't looked special at all.

Even the zookeeper standing right next to me was a non-Awakener, so there was barely a reaction. Mild curiosity, at most.

"Bwaak."

The insolent little beast squawked at me, impatient.

I held out the mana stone, and—

Snap—

—it snatched it immediately.

"Bwaak."

…So if we're done here, get lost?

"Alright, everyone, a big round of applause!!"

I had no idea what the applause was for, but I left the beast flopped over on its back and followed the zookeeper down.

…That was not easy. Seriously.

All of a sudden, I had a newfound respect for Yeon Hajin.

Rich enough to drown in money, and still willing to endure this kind of humiliation just to save a little—being a rice-grubber wasn't something just anyone could pull off….

I tucked the Ice Dragon's Scale carefully into my inventory, wandered the zoo a little longer, and headed out.

By then the sun was sinking, the light already beginning to fade.

My countermeasures for the dungeon were solid enough for now. Next came preparing a way to stop the rampages.

A Church-induced rampage was closer to losing all reason and ego and twisting into a grotesque mana beast. You shed your intellect and kept only aggression toward humans, but in exchange you gained vast amounts of demonic energy and monstrous physical power.

In the original story, the students' corpses had vanished along with the cleared dungeon, so no one could pin down the exact number or identities of the infiltrators. All that could be guessed was that quite a few spies had slipped in. Which meant that even with my clear memory of the original, rooting them all out was impossible. Even an early standoff would be hard.

So the only method left was to prevent the rampages themselves.

And for that, I was going to need a lot of materials.

The face-work was done, and from here on drawing attention would only be a liability, so I put on a mask and a cap before I moved out.

My destination was the Association-run dungeon, Moonlight Garden.

Unlike a gate, which once entered could not be left by ordinary means until it was cleared, dungeons allowed free entry and exit. Of course, just as a gate could break, a dungeon could go into lockdown and restrict access—but like a gate break, dungeon lockdowns weren't common.

Though the Church could trigger both breaks and lockdowns artificially.

Moonlight Garden was a B-grade dungeon, but because it primarily produced material items used in potions and the like, the Association managed it directly. They thinned out the monster population and rotated a few Awakeners on patrol so that lower-rank Awakeners could gather materials smoothly and safely.

Of course, the Association wasn't a charity, so there was an entrance fee….

"I can help you with the entry application."

"Ah—I'm an Academy student."

"Could I see your student ID?"

Academy students didn't get in free… but they did get a steep discount.

I handed my student ID to the gate clerk, lifted my cap, and pulled down my mask.

His eyes widened a little at my face, but he didn't do anything beyond that.

Association staff were half civil servants—hitting on a minor and getting caught would cost them their livelihood.

"…Confirmed."

He matched the ID against my face, asked lightly for my date of birth, and issued me a discounted entry pass.

And so I stepped into Moonlight Garden.

"Whoa…."

The scenery that met me inside was breathtaking.

A violet haze of mystery hung across the sky where a bright moon shone, and the ground was thick with grass and blossoms that held a strange glitter, weaving a dreamlike vista.

What I needed here was Illusion Butterfly's Stardust (B). Combined with an Awakening agent, it could produce a specialized drug called Anchor—a compound that forcibly maintained a person's reason and ego.

Crunch— crunch—

I passed people busily gathering flowers and walked deeper into the dungeon, beginning the preparations the original story had outlined for obtaining Illusion Butterfly's Stardust.

First stop: the tallest hill in Moonlight Garden.

The hills here were all roughly the same height—low enough that calling them hills was almost generous—so picking out the highest by eye was nearly impossible. Even so, following the original's description got me there somehow.

At the summit, under the mystical fall of moonlight, flowers of the exact same kind bloomed in a dense carpet.

…I had to find the single flower among them that didn't glitter.

"Haa…."

I already don't want to do this….

After a mind-numbing grind, I finally picked one flower.

I carefully tucked it into my inventory and moved on. The next destination was more of the same.

Following the original, I headed for the widest plain in Moonlight Garden and, among a sea of identical flowers filling my vision, hunted for the single one that did not glitter.

I was not exaggerating when I said I thought I was going to develop a mental illness.

When I'd first entered the dungeon, those softly glittering flowers had looked genuinely beautiful.

Not anymore.

I just wanted to burn them all.

After that, acquiring Sleep Herb was almost trivial compared to the two flowers. Then I set off again, still following the original's description.

Past the hills and fields dense with flowers and grass, I arrived at…

A wide forest packed with trees that had to be more than ten meters tall.

"Haa…."

I stared blankly up at the towering wall of wood for a moment, then sighed and stepped into the forest.

What I needed was a small pond the original Yeon Hajin had called "Where Moonlight Pools"—but even with the original's narration to lean on, finding it was not easy. The trees crowding my vision twisted my sense of direction, and no matter how far I walked, everything looked the same.

So I spent a long while exploring a forest I had no business wandering through. How far had I walked?

I had already put eleven healing rounds into my forearm with my pistol and was about to fire the twelfth when a small clearing opened ahead of me.

"Whoa…."

Finally….

I hastily stowed the pistol in my inventory and stepped lightly into the clearing, full of expectation—and a thoroughly dreamlike scene filled my sight.

A gap in the sky-high trees. A slender seam overhead through which moonlight spilled gently down over the open space.

And at its center, true to the name "Where Moonlight Pools," a lake so full of moonlight that glittering motes of light drifted across its still surface.

It was a landscape designed to bewitch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anyone who saw it. Awe rose unbidden—

—and then did not.

If I'd found this even an hour earlier, I really would have been moved. Shame.

Several short, repeated ordeals had dried my sensibilities clean out. I pulled my gaze from the spectacle almost at once and sank limply down beside the lake.

Then, following the original's description, I chewed and swallowed the Sleep Herb, immediately took the Star-Greeting Flower between my lips, lay back, and closed my eyes.

My consciousness sank in an instant.

A little later, when I opened my eyes again, the world around me had completely changed.

A paradise of flowers filled my vision.

The sky rippled softly in pastel tones of pink ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and more, and the Milky Way shone across it.

I pushed myself up from where I'd been lying and crouched in place.

Then I took out the trowel I'd prepared in advance and carefully dug into the soil to plant the Star-Greeting Flower.

I packed the earth firm with the blade. A spring breeze stirred, and the Star-Greeting Flower swayed.

A moment later, several butterflies with wings of mysterious purple and pink came fluttering toward it.

Illusion Butterflies.

They drifted around the flower, then took turns burying their heads in the bloom, one by one.

I kept my distance and watched in a daze for a long while. When the meal was done, the Illusion Butterflies rose into the air.

I hurried to dig the flower back up and set off after them.

How long I walked in their wake, I couldn't say—until a small cave came into view.

Following the butterflies into the cave, I checked the floor and found powder glittering in purple and pink piled across the ground.

Powder as if someone had ground gemstones into dust.

"Haa…."

Found it.

I let out a sigh thick with accomplishment and bent to gather the powder—and in that same moment…

Deeper inside the cave, where the butterflies had flown, something strange caught my eye.

A pointed-eared woman with cherry-blossom-pink hair, bleeding and unconscious on the ground.

…Who are you?